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February 09, 2018

DFW Homeowners Staying in Their Homes Longer...

North Texas homeowners must like the roofs over their heads. The average time Dallas-Fort Worth homeowners stay in their property has almost doubled in the last decade. While local property values have skyrocketed in the last few years, homeowners are staying put longer and longer. A combination of rising home prices and a shortage of properties on the market fueled their decisions not to sell. Higher home finance costs also play a part and are likely to be more of a factor in the year ahead. At the end of 2017, typical D-FW homeowners kept their homes for nearly 7.5 years before selling, according to a new study from Attom Data Solutions based on analysis of public records on sale, ownership and tax, relating to more than 150 million U.S. properties. That's way up from an average 3.8-year tenure at the end of 2007. Nationwide, the average tenure of homeowners at the end of 2017 was an all-time high of about 8.2 years, Attom Data researchers found.

"It's the most profitable time to sell a home in more than 10 years, yet homeowners are staying put longer than we've ever seen," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at Attom Data Solutions. Many homeowners are shrugging off the temptation to sell, even with the potential for great profits, he said. "Homeowners in the region have gained so much equity so rapidly over the past few years that they are finally starting to leverage that equity to move up more quickly," Blomquist said. On average, D-FW home sellers last year made a profit of $69,496 — more than the national average profit of $54,000. Of course, owners who sold at the top of the market also had to buy into a housing market with record prices.